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About Weaponized Lies

Previously Published as A Field Guide to Lies

We’re surrounded by fringe theories, fake news, and pseudo-facts. These lies are getting repeated. New York Times bestselling author Daniel Levitin shows how to disarm these socially devastating inventions and get the American mind back on track. Here are the fundamental lessons in critical thinking that we need to know and share now.

Investigating numerical misinformation, Daniel Levitin shows how mishandled statistics and graphs can give a grossly distorted perspective and lead us to terrible decisions. Wordy arguments on the other hand can easily be persuasive as they drift away from the facts in an appealing yet misguided way. The steps we can take to better evaluate news, advertisements, and reports are clearly detailed. Ultimately, Levitin turns to what underlies our ability to determine if something is true or false: the scientific method. He grapples with the limits of what we can and cannot know. Case studies are offered to demonstrate the applications of logical thinking to quite varied settings, spanning courtroom testimony, medical decision making, magic, modern physics, and conspiracy theories.

This urgently needed book enables us to avoid the extremes of passive gullibility and cynical rejection. As Levitin attests: Truth matters. A post-truth era is an era of willful irrationality, reversing all the great advances humankind has made. Euphemisms like “fringe theories,” “extreme views,” “alt truth,” and even “fake news” can literally be dangerous. Let’s call lies what they are and catch those making them in the act.

About Weaponized Lies

Previously Published as A Field Guide to Lies

We’re surrounded by fringe theories, fake news, and pseudo-facts. These lies are getting repeated. New York Times bestselling author Daniel Levitin shows how to disarm these socially devastating inventions and get the American mind back on track. Here are the fundamental lessons in critical thinking that we need to know and share now.

Investigating numerical misinformation, Daniel Levitin shows how mishandled statistics and graphs can give a grossly distorted perspective and lead us to terrible decisions. Wordy arguments on the other hand can easily be persuasive as they drift away from the facts in an appealing yet misguided way. The steps we can take to better evaluate news, advertisements, and reports are clearly detailed. Ultimately, Levitin turns to what underlies our ability to determine if something is true or false: the scientific method. He grapples with the limits of what we can and cannot know. Case studies are offered to demonstrate the applications of logical thinking to quite varied settings, spanning courtroom testimony, medical decision making, magic, modern physics, and conspiracy theories.

This urgently needed book enables us to avoid the extremes of passive gullibility and cynical rejection. As Levitin attests: Truth matters. A post-truth era is an era of willful irrationality, reversing all the great advances humankind has made. Euphemisms like “fringe theories,” “extreme views,” “alt truth,” and even “fake news” can literally be dangerous. Let’s call lies what they are and catch those making them in the act.

*Includes a PDF of supplemental graphics on visualizing conditional probabilities

Listen to a sample from Weaponized Lies

About Daniel J. Levitin

Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, is a neuroscientist, cognitive psychologist, and bestselling author. He is Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at the Minerva Schools at KGI in San Francisco, and Professor Emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at McGill University. He… More about Daniel J. Levitin

About Daniel J. Levitin

Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, is a neuroscientist, cognitive psychologist, and bestselling author. He is Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at the Minerva Schools at KGI in San Francisco, and Professor Emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at McGill University. He… More about Daniel J. Levitin

“Mr. Levitin is the perfect guide…If everyone could adopt the level of healthy statistical skepticism that Mr. Levitin would like, political debate would be in much better shape.”—The Economist

“The timing could not be better … for Daniel J. Levitin’s new book… a survival manual for the post-factual era…in the struggle against error and ignorance, lies and mistakes, he is both engaging and rewarding.”—Literary Review of Canada

“Who knew that a book about statistics could be so riveting!”—Dallas Public Library

“Confirmation bias is a growing problem in the digital information age. As Daniel Levitin writes, our brain is a giant pattern detector. If we read something that coincides with what we already believe we’re more likely to give it credence, while the opposite is not true…The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”—John Cleese

“Misinformation is a part of everyday life in our data-intense, internet-enhanced world. Levitin provides an entertaining and engaging guide to how we can use critical thinking to avoid being fooled. Weaponized Lies is a valuable survival guide to consuming information in the digital age.”—Lori Holt, Professor, Department of Psychology and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, Carnegie Mellon University

“Our brain is wired to make snap judgments. And those judgments can be very, very wrong. Weaponized Lies…teaches how to separate fact from fringe theories and ‘fake news.'”—NPR’s Marketplace

“In a post-truth world, Levitin’s book is an invaluable primer on how to sort the fact from the fiction.”—Sunday Times of London “A practical guide to better managing today’s constant flow of data and to improving critical thinking…A recommended book for creative leaders.”— Forbes“As a lucid guide to critical thinking about statistics, information and assertion it is profoundly welcome”— Observer

“On the internet, nobody knows you’re not an expert. Luckily, McGill University Cognitive Psychologist and Weaponized Lies author Daniel J. Levitin has a few tricks to pick out the professors from the phonies.”—Business Insider “A plea for sanity in a world seemingly gone mad…Levitin is an eloquent and enthusiastic exponent.”—LA Review of Books “A lucid guide to critical thinking about statistics, information and assertion, it’s profoundly welcome.” —The Guardian “A timely primer on how statistics, polls and information presented as facts can be used by “lying weasels” to obscure the truth. [A]ddresses the careless or lazy critical thinking skills many have developed in the era of internet information overload.”—Forward “A necessary book and one most appropriate to the times we find ourselves in…[an] excursion through how to think about data, how to think about statistics, and how to do so in a systematic way.”—The Times Higher Education Supplement

“A cool-headed and witty guide to thinking clearly and rationally, and a deconstruction of sloppy information.”—The Irish Times “Levitin is brilliant regarding all of the ways that information can be manipulated.”— Medium

“Regardless of one’s political persuasion (apolitical, third party, democratic, or republican) all individuals of this nation would benefit from making the effort to read and understand the concepts presented in this book… eminently easy to read and as a consequence, easy to understand.” —Portland Books Review

“Daniel Levitin’s field guide is a critical thinking primer for our shrill, data-drenched age. It’s an essential tool for really understanding the texts, posts, tweets, magazines, newspapers, podcasts, op-eds, interviews, and speeches that bombard us every day. From the way averages befuddle to the logical fallacies that sneak by us, every page is enlightening.”—Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and Smarter, Faster, Better

“The world is awash with data, but not always with accurate information. Weaponized Lies does a terrific job of illustrating the difference between the two with precision—and delightful good humor.”—Charles Wheelan, Senior Lecturer and Policy Fellow, Rockefeller Center, Dartmouth College, author of Naked Economics “Weaponized Lies by the neuroscientist Daniel Levitin lays out the many ways in which each of us can be fooled and misled by numbers and logic, as well as the modes of critical thinking we will need to overcome this.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Valuable tools for anyone willing to evaluate claims and get to the truth of the matter.”—Kirkus Reviews

“This useful, entertaining, and highly readable guide is ready to arm everyday citizens with the tools to combat the spread of spurious, and often ridiculous, information.”—Library Journal

“[A] book you may want to have close by at all times.”—Success Magazine

“Weaponized Lies serves as a kind of Strunk & White for sloppy thinkers.”—New York Journal of Books

“This is a wonderful book. It covers so many of the insights of science, logic, and statistics that the public needs to know, yet are sadly neglected in the education that most of us receive.”—Edward K. Cheng, Tarkington Chair of Teaching Excellence and professor of law at Vanderbilt Law School

“Hits on the most important issues around statistical literacy, and uses good examples to illustrate its points. I could not put this book down. Reading it has been a pleasure, believe me. I am so impressed with Levitin’s writing style, which is clear and simple, unlike much of the murky stuff that is written by statisticians and many others.”—Morris Olitsky, former Vice President, Market Research and Analysis, Prudential Financial, Statistician, U.S.D.A.

“Just as Strunk and White taught us how to communicate better, Weaponized Lies is an indispensable guide to thinking better. As Big Data becomes a dominant theme in our culture, we are all obliged to sharpen our critical thinking so as to thwart the forces of obfuscation. Levitin has done a great service here.”—Jasper Rine, Professor of Genetics, Genomics, and Development, UC Berkeley

“Not since Huff’s classic How to Lie with Statistics has a book so clearly described how numbers can be used to deceive and misdirect. Levitin shows how to critically evaluate claims that charlatans, the media, and politicians would have us believe.”—Stan Lazic, Team Leader in Quantitative Biology at AstraZeneca

“A must read! Professor Levitin convinces the reader why critical thinking has become even more crucial in the Information Age. As we are consistently bombarded with information, let’s question its veracity and acquire the tools to analyze it.”—Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, Dean and Professor of Finance, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University

“Well researched, and provides a valuable guide to assist the public with a methodology for evaluating the truth behind this cacophony of information that constantly inundates.”—Patrick Martin, Magician

“No book could be more timely. An important book for everyone to read. Essential to where western democracies are going.”—Janice Stein, Founding Director, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto

“[A] valuable primer on critical thinking that convincingly illustrates the prevalence of misinformation in everyday life.”—Publisher’s Weekly “Levitin belongs to a best-selling group of experts—Daniel Kahneman, Gerd Gigerenzer, David Spiegelhalter, and a few more—who want to put us right on the pitfalls of dubious statistics and the various forms of bias that skew our decisions…There can hardly be a more important message at this moment in history, and until everyone gets it, all are welcome to keep pumping it out and Levitin is perhaps primus inter pares…His message is bracing…[and] all we have to guard against a new Dark Age.”—The Arts Desk